MDG Subcommittee chair, Debra Smithdeal, at Saint Mary's ChapelOn May 17, Saint Mary's School in Raleigh held its 167th Commencement exercises. Following time-honored ritual, graduates, faculty, family and friends looked back at accomplishments before looking ahead. One endeavor in particular stood out as an example of the past informing the present and future: the Millennium Development Goals-focused Nets for Life.
For the 2008-2009 academic year, Saint Mary's chose the MDGs as a theme for Chapel. School chaplain, the Rev. Andrea Wigodsky, invited Debra Smithdeal, chair of the diocese's MDG Subcommittee, to help with the education effort by addressing faculty and students during a Friday morning chapel service in October.
Smithdeal explained the history, purpose and theology of the eight goals, and then offered examples of "the deepest brokenness in the world today ... the extreme poverty we really do not see in our country: 1.2 billion people living on less that $1 a day; 110 million children who are not allowed to receive a full course of primary education; 500,000 women who die every year from complications of pregnancy and childbirth; 8,000 people who die every day of HIV/AIDS; one child under 5 years of age dying every thirty seconds from preventable, treatable diseases."
The Chapel program elected to concentrate on Goal #6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. A campus-wide fundraiser was initiated so mosquito nets could be purchased through Episcopal Relief and Development's Nets for Life program to prevent malaria. 
Led by the vestry, which produced a skit about the effort for a school assembly, students created pledge cards, collected money, and even fashioned an honor card with a picture of a mosquito in a Santa hat so people could give nets in honor of their loved ones for Christmas.
"We picked up the pledge cards as an offering at our Thanksgiving Eucharist, and we announced the totals at our Christmas Eucharist," said Chaplain Wigodsky. All told, more than $6,300 was raised for ERD and over 500 nets purchased.
"Through this project our school became more aware of the MDGs and how we can contribute to the accomplishment of these international goals. More specifically, the Saint Mary's School community became aware of the dangers of malaria and how prevalent and deadly it is in many African countries. Looking back on the project, it is truly amazing to see how this simple fundraiser impacted our school community while saving many African lives," said Senior Warden Betsy Bryan Pitts, class of 2009.
